Hey guys, this is my rewrite of this story. I, on a whim one day, decided that it would be "fun" to read through my old fanfics, and it truly amazed me. I first wrote this way back in 2016 and looking back on it now? Boy am I embarrassed, because this was absolute garbage. Never in my life did I think I could write something so bad, but alas, middle school me really surprised me there. Never again.

-xXx-

[Late August, 2008]

The blaring from the alarm clock made Marui groan, Mura-buchou was a slavedriver, practice at 5:30AM on a Friday morning was brutal (Marui knew this from experience). It was even worse now as they would have their first Nationals game in the next couple of weeks and Yukimura had assigned practice on all the days ending with "y": before school, after school and for hours on the weekend until the finals. They would be going to draw the matches soon and boy, was Yukimura ready to take home the crown and ensure that they did not humiliate themselves like they had in the Kanto Regionals (again). Losing to Seigaku had humbled them, but Yukimura was not about to let that happen again. He also knew that if he didn't show up to practice even once, there wasn't a doubt in his mind that Yukimura would come into his house in the middle of the night and beat him within an inch of his life (the dude was deceptively strong despite his otherwise frail-looking body). Practice was grueling (but worth it? We'll see about that).

He sluggishly went through the motions of his morning routine before dragging his feet over to school. The burnished iron school gates seemed to loom over him, possibly signifying his impending death (again). Thankfully having some time before practice started, he munched on his treats (his Box had sweets aplenty), fueling up for when Sanada would inevitably wipe the ground with him, again. He offered one to Jackal when he set his bag next to him.

He was happy to mind his own business, enjoying the early morning air and the sweet whiff of morning dew, but alas, all good things must come to an end. Marui sighed into his third cupcake when the signs of Sanada-fukubuchou's arrival were identified. The angry bull himself scanned for Akaya (who never came this early) until his eyes landed on him.

"Marui!" The loud (but expected) shout jolted him into dropping his butterscotch cupcake (oh sweet cupcake, gone too soon… you will be remembered). "Go run 10 laps!" Sanada interrupted him before he could protest, "Go run 20! You're going to get fat from all that shit you eat!" Marui dropped everything (carefully) into his Box before running, there was no winning against Sanada (unless you were Yukimura, but he wasn't, now was he?).

Niou, who had just arrived, laughed at his misfortune before he was assigned laps too. Sanada stared at the trickster for a long minute, "Another 30 laps, Niou. I already know that you're going to do something that'll warrant more laps, might as well get them out of the way now." Niou rolled his eyes and grumbled before begrudgingly breaking out into a leisurely jog with a jaunty tune on his lips.

"I'M HERE BUCHOU!" Funny that even at Niou's turtle-like pace, he was still able to finish his laps before the baby of the team arrived.

"Tarundoru! Late, again! 50 laps, NOW!" the Devil of the courts jumped and ran. Niou shook his head, the kid never learned, as he neared the water fountain, he overheard Yanagi and Yukimura conspiring. Niou tried to listen in but could only hear words like: "Inui Juice," "Fuji," and "Team bonding."

Niou's eyes rolled into his head, the last time they went 'Team Bonding,' they were locked in an abandoned shed for a day. It had been the middle of winter, their only light source came from the fire that they managed to ignite with the lighter that had been in his left jacket pocket. When they got hungry, they were forced to eat from Marui's confection box (Sanada chose to rather starve than eat that stuff, it nearly made Niou gag just remember how disgustingly sweet those treats were). As if that wasn't enough, they were forced to listen to their captain tell horror stories (boy was that shit spooky). Their captain had most definitely gotten the rotten idea of these Team Bonding activities from Fuji, no doubt about it. Yanagi had regaled them tales of how Fuji liked to personally force-feed the poor loser that finished last with the nastiest combinations of Inui's worst juices. (Not even the devil himself was immune to that apparently).

He collapsed next to Marui before beginning to cry, "Whaddup?"

"They're planning to kill us! I swear!" "What?" Niou grabbed his shoulders before vigorously shaking him. "They're planning another Team Bonding Exercise!" Marui's eyes widened, and nearly started frothing at the mouth.

Why did he ever think that joining the tennis team would be a good idea?

Who knows.

-xXx-

When the bell rang for the school day to be over, Marui trudged his way down to the courts, again. Because who needed a social life when you had tennis? Not him apparently. Marui stretched, after school practice was a pain, he wouldn't have minded if it was a couple times a week, but everyday was just starting to get on his nerves (not that he'd ever complain to the likes of Sanada or Yukimura). All he wanted was to go home, eat some good food, and sleep. But after Yukimura's operation over the summer, he was working them harder than ever. How was he supposed to complain about being tired to the dude who spent a year in the hospital?

He was just starting his warm up routine with his partner-in-crime when his phone rang. The familiar ringtone pierced through the air, it was his mom. Marui could've passed out when his captain grabbed the phone and answered it. 'Will Mom tell him embarrassing things? Will she tell him all his secrets? Will she show him his baby pictures? Will she tell him about how he broke his diet?!' he screamed internally. He wouldn't put it past his mom to do just that (the snitch). He let out a breath of relief when Yukimura-buchou passed him his phone with a big smile.

"Hey mum!"

"Next week? With us?"

"What?! This late into the school year?"

"Well okay… She's how old?"

"Yeah, okay. Just send me a picture of 'em."

"Alright, sounds like fun, love you mum.", he ended the call and shoved his phone back into his bag. Everyone looked on in interest, Yukimura approached Marui, "What did she call you about?"

"Just about my aunt and cousin from Canada staying in Japan for the year.", "What do they look like?" Niou quipped.

"Dunno, mum's sending me a picture of them right now. They're supposed to be coming over for dinner next week."

Yanagi opened his notebook, "I was not aware that you had any family members living abroad.", "Yeah, me neither. Literally didn't know I had family outside of Japan up until two minutes ago." Marui then seemed to think for a bit, "Where even is Canada?"

Yanagi gave a judgemental(ly lidded) stare. "It's the country above the United States."

"Isn't that the North Pole?" The baby of the team chirped. There was silence, "I've heard that they all live in igloos and have polar bears as pets." another piped.

Yukimura fondly huffed before asking, "Will your cousin be going to school here?"

Marui shrugged, "Pretty sure, Mum says that their apartment is near Yanagi's house."

"That's super close!"

"If they're staying, do you think she'll be able to handle summers here then?" Marui stopped to think, he hoped she could. He wondered if summers even existed up North.

Sanada sighed and shook his head, their ignorance of basic geography aside, the Unholy Trinity of Marui, Niou, and Akaya were already a pain to deal with, but another Marui? God help him.

Yukimura chuckled at his old friend, he could practically sense what he was thinking. He was honestly such an old man sometimes. He still used those flip phones that were made for the elderly (gifted from Atobe of all people), even Sanada's grandpa had a touchscreen phone. He needed to lighten up, maybe this new girl could, or she would become the bane of his existence. Either was fine.

-xXx-

-A week later-

"Our plane will be landing soon, please keep your seat belts buckled," the voice announced. A girl looked up sharply, just a few more minutes and she would be touching down in Haneda Airport.

As the plane began to make its descent, she shook her mother awake, Nakamura Aiko grumbled, "Here already?", the young girl chuckled before nodding.

The pair walked through to the main entrance before her eyes landed on a young boy (her age?) with garishly bright red hair that matched her mother's. He was standing with a middle-aged man (most definitely her uncle) that had hair that matched the both of them. The young boy was holding up a sign that said 'Nakamura' (in very childish writing might she add). Her mother seemed to become animated once she saw the man, running towards them and hugging him. She slowly followed, shyly greeting the family: "Hello uncle, cousin… My name's Tsuki." It was a stiff one, but at least she got her own name right, this time.

"Hi Tsu-Tsu! Can I call you Tsu-Tsu?" she nodded with a meek smile, "Great! I think we're gonna be best friends!" before throwing his arms around her in a big hug. She froze in surprise before slowly wrapping her arms around him too (his smile was infectious it seemed).

Marui scanned her from head to toe. She was adorable, her picture was definitely cute, but the real thing was even cuter! Pale skin, pastel pink hair (bizarre hair colours seemed to run in the family), and a pair of sharp amethyst eyes (just like his!). She looked frail, ridiculously so. Her body seemed as if a strong wind would knock her over or blow her away. She looked like a little doll, he felt the instant need to hug her and spoil her, his little cousin!

The little family (and its new additions!) eventually filed out of the airport and began driving to the new Nakamura residence. On the way there, Marui and Tsuki got to know each other. As it turned out, the sweet tooth ran in the family, they were the same age, and they loved to bake! Now what were the chances of that? They eventually got to talking about tennis (she didn't really know or care about it sadly), she smiled when Marui began to passionately rant about how great it felt to know that they were the best in the country (but still slipped in some very aggressive opinions about a Sanada). Pity that the only thing she knew about tennis was that people hit a ball around with a bigger badminton racquet.

The car eventually parked at a large apartment complex. Marui recognised the area immediately: Rich People Street (dubbed by yours truly), coincidentally Yanagi's street and just a couple blocks away from his own. He grabbed the heftiest looking luggage bag (he was, in fact, very strong) and lugged it up to the second floor ("Strength comes from the legs!" Quoth Sanada Genichiro, circa. 2007). Apartment 210 of Rich People Street was, as expected, much more luxurious than many other apartments that he had seen.

The space was… well… spacious. There were two bedrooms with double beds (Tsuki chose the one that had the balcony), a lovely living room (lots of light), a small dining room table, and a u-shaped kitchen paired with two bar stools. It was most definitely more than what two people needed, but hey! More space meant more places to put stuff, right?

She had her cousin put her luggage down in her new room and let him show his "bulging biceps" off to show his strength ("Aren't I strong? Don't underestimate me!") before she flopped onto her new bed. It was soft and quite comfortable. But she upgraded the comfy level by taking out the few stuffed animals that she had packed and laid them down. Marui immediately threw himself on them, testing out their fluffiness, he deemed it adequate (though the penguin was a touch too firm, in his opinion).

As they waited for their parents to finish setting up the rest of the home, they had a very nice conversation.

"Hey!" Marui babbled excitedly, "Tsu-Tsu! You're gonna be going to my school!". She smiled, "Yeah?", "That's right!" Marui pumped his chest out, "How does it feel to know that you, my dear sweet cousin, shall soon be attending the best school in the region?"

Tsuki pretended to think, "Well I don't know if it's the best school if you go there." she turned her cheek when he pouted at her. "Tsu-Tsu! You're so mean! How can you bully your cute little cousin like this?!" he cried.

"Mmm, I wouldn't call it bullying." she turned her attention to her nails (her pinky had the slightest chip, how annoying), "I'm just telling it like it is."

Unfortunately, sweet little Marui couldn't take such harassment and ran to snitch on her to her mom. "Auntieeee! Tsuki's bullying meee!" (she really had to applaud him, his crocodile tears were impressive)

Marui Sr. took one look at his son and sighed, "Don't know where you get these dramatics from, because I know for a fact that it wasn't me or your mother." he then muttered under his breath, "It must be middle school syndrome."

Marui felt his jaw drop, what father would betray their son like this? He turned his distraught face to his aunt, hoping she would pity him (he was very pitiful!). She smiled in amusement and pat his head before resuming her conversation with his dad. Nobody was on his side!

And so, Marui sniffled all the way back to Tsuki's room, defeated. He rounded the corner and saw her smugly laying there, like a tiger about to eat a little lamb. He pouted and turned his nose to her, ignoring her. Too bad she didn't actually care, he broke after a few minutes, "Tsu-Tsu! I'm sorry!" he cried as he wiggled his way into her folded arms. She rolled her eyes at him before petting his head like on would a puppy, "Whatever."

As they huddled under the warm (Totoro!) sheets while watching Spirited Away, Tsuki heard her mom call them over, "Tsuki! Pack your things! We're staying at your uncle's for the night!". Marui perked up at the fact that his sweet little cousin would be staying with him and left his cousin's warm bed to trot over to put his shoes on. He looked over at his cousin's tiny little feet slipping into her shoes and he couldn't help the full-bodied cringe. She was wearing lime green Crocs with cute little ladybug charms (not to mention the mismatched character socks! the worst crime there was). The charms may have upped the aesthetic value of the look, but it didn't change the fact that they were vomit-inducingly ugly.

The car ride had been hard, he had been fixated -plagued really, by her hideous shoes. He couldn't stop thinking about them, his attention span was really challenging him today. One minute he'd be attentively listening to every single one of his cousin's words and then he'd catch a glimpse of her shoes in the corner of his eye and all the sudden that was all he could focus on. Man, were they ugly.

He thanked whoever was up there for the short car ride, heaving out a sigh of relief when he finally saw her take them off. He could practically taste the nabe from here! "We're home!" He yelled into the house, all he got was a muffled "Welcome home…" from his mother. One would think that their mother would be rather happy to see their child, but alas, the eldest Marui child had long become accustomed to such bullying in his own house.

After the Marui (and Nakamura) family finished eating their amazing dinner (courtesy of Madam Marui), Marui excitedly gave a tour of his humble abode for his cousin before finally ending the tour in his domain. "And this, dearest cousin of mine, is my room!" he waved her into the messy room with flourish before realizing his mistake, "Gimme a minute," he said before hurriedly shutting the door in her face, she heard the sound of shuffling feet and doors opening and slamming shut, she heard something fall, pencils dropping to the ground, him cursing after he hit something before he finally reopened the door.

"Sorry about that! Technical difficulties, you know how it is, I do hope that you are willing to forgive me!" Tsuki fondly sighed at him, taking in the now semi-tidy room. It looked just like any other teenage boy's room. A spattering of action figures displayed at the top of his bookshelf, his school bag was strewn on his desk, his bedsheets haphazardly made, and a few stray knicknacks left on his bed stand.

As the rest of the night droned on, Tsuki discovered that her sweet cousin had tennis practice the next morning, she strong-armed him into asking his captain if she could come. And what would you know, she was due for a meeting with her cousin's teammates. She wasn't exactly all that excited to meet them (if Marui's complaining were to be trusted), but hey! It's not like she had anything else to do for the weekend! Neither did she know anybody at her new school. Might as well get to know at least some now.

Although she was anxious to meet new people, she wanted to be well rested.

Thus, Tsuki got the bed while poor Marui was forced to sleep on the cold, hard floor.